At the beginning of every semester, my bank account decides
to take on the resolution to dwindle as quickly as possible. Within a matter of
days, money is spent on books, tuition, rent, groceries, and a variety of other
expenditures always seem to arise. Yet due to my diligence over the summer, I
find some money is left over. However, others are not as fortunate as I and the
beginning of this semester reminded me of October.
It was a typical Saturday and I had spent most of the day
enduring long lines at a variety of stores. All I wanted was to be home so I
could slap on some sweats and spend the remainder of my weekend in peace. While
trying to endure the never ending line at the Orem Wal-Mart, my eye was drawn
towards the mother behind me. Her eyes were heavy and sunken and her shoulders
slumped as if she was carrying an enormous load. Four, young and rowdy children
were quickly growing more and more impatient as time seemed to never end. I
observed this hectic scene wondering what their home life must be life. And
that’s when I saw it. The check. Carefully, the woman unfolded a badly worn WIC
check. The mother continued to examine the items in her cart, ensuring that the
check would be sufficient for the food she had selected. I saw the sadness on
her face as her kids begged for Halloween pumpkins and she had to turn them
down due to lack of funds.
My heart broke. Being a college student, I always make jokes
about being poor but looking into the eyes of this family, I quickly understood
that I the slightest comprehension as to what it meant to be poor. I couldn’t
let this happen. Without a second thought I paid for her groceries and bought a
pumpkin for each of the kids. Tears filled the mother’s eyes and I had to choke
back a few myself as she tenderly thanked me. I spent way more than I
anticipated that day and yet, from that day forward I know longer view myself
as a poor college student. I am blessed.
Exploring and encountering poverty (or any type of economic situation that you are not used to) is quite an eye opening journey. I think it is a good journey to write about too so that you don't forget it. Once you work hard and build up a prosperous life it could become more difficult to be generous to the poor since you feel invested in the money and possessions that you sacrificed so much for. At times like that you need to think on and reflect on the first time you encountered poverty so personally and how you wanted to react to it.
ReplyDeleteEncountering poverty is eye-opening but interacting with people in that situation as you did is even more so. It's one thing to watch and experience something new from a distance and something different when you actually involve yourself in the new experience. That kind of journey will (hopefully) influence our decisions in the future.
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